Chapter Text
Hal frowned looking around the table, “We need someone to act as a contact to this group. They want to use Earth as a storage place for their drugs to hide it until the heat comes off them, and possibly find a new market for their drugs. So, we need to create a fake criminal that has a history of drug running and other crimes that they will want to work with so we can get enough of a contact into their organization to find the product they’re moving.”
Diana frowned, “Creating someone that they will accept will be difficult. They will have already accessed earth’s media and may be able to discover if our contact is brand new.”
Bruce sighed, “I have an idea.”
“Oh?”
Bruce pulled up the screen in front of him and placed a call to the Bat Cave, which was picked up by Red Robin, “Hey B, you need something?”
“Is your brother still working on the Batmobile? I need to speak with him.”
“Sure,” Tim leaded back, “HOOD B WANTS YOU!”
A fainter voice came from over the phone, “Why? Isn’t he with the boy scout and his super friends? I’m not really dressed kosher for them.”
Bruce rubbed his face as Tim responded, “I actually don’t know, Hal was supposed to bring some intergalactic issue to the league looking for help with it, but I never bothered looking into what, I’ve been too busy with the Hart case to listen in.”
Several heroes gave Batman a confused look at Red Robin’s conversation before another person appeared on the screen in a red domino. He seemed vaguely familiar to most of them.
The man smiled, “What’s up B?”
Bruce sighed again, “An alien group is looking to traffic drugs through earth with possibly opening a market here. They are looking for a contact on Earth to work with.”
A grin broke across the man’s face, “You need a crime lord! Oh, Oh pick me!” Jason waved his hand laughing through his volunteering.
Diana looked at Jason, “Batman… who is that?”
“Red Hood.”
“The crime lord that delivered eight severed heads to the GCPD? What is a rouge doing inside your lair?”
Bruce growled, “Red Hood is not a rogue.”
Jason pulled his jacket to the side revealing the red bat symbol, “Bat Pack.”
Clark blinked, “You delivered eight severed heads to the police.”
“Eh,” Jason waved his hand, “They were all drug lieutenants and I was still riding the green pretty bad.”
Barry frowned, “Batman’s big rule is no killing, right?”
“I got daddy issues, but outside of business and my code I’m toeing the line now.”
“Daddy issues?” Barry’s voice cracked.
Jason nodded, loving the chance to rile up the league, “The whole not killing my murderer and everything,” he waved his hand, “We’re good now… mostly.”
Clark sat forward, “Robin? You’re the second Robin!”
Jason blinked, nodding, “Yeah, how’d you figure that? I didn’t think he talked about me.”
“I was the one that stopped him from killing the Joker afterwards. I couldn’t let him break his code; I knew Robin wouldn’t have wanted that.”
Jason blinked at him, “You stopped him? B tried?”
Batman took back over, “We can discuss that later Hood, would you be willing to help out the Justice League in this?”
Jason shook his head to clear it before dropping back into a playful grin, “Crime lord to aliens, that’s going to so be a bragging point. Think you can swing it as the Justice League breaking up my work before you kick them out of Gotham for acting in Gotham? Black Mask is trying to get into my territory again and seeing the Bats running the Justice League from Gotham for messing with me will win me a lot of clout. Some of his suppliers will definitely jump to me after that. Probably be able to take over more of his territory outside the alley and push the Red Code further into the city.”
Bruce glared at him, “Our agreement is only for Crime Alley.”
Jason rolled his eyes, “And my business. I promised to keep the killing for business as limited as possible, strictly the people who break my code. Maiming works quite fine for the rest.”
Bruce grunted as Clark frowned, “I’ve heard of a Red Code but no one knows what it is.”
Jason tilted his head, “Really? I mean it’s simple, don’t touch kids, don’t sell to kids, don’t use kids, and don’t mess with prostitutes.”
Barry blinked, “Isn’t that bad for uh, business?”
“The reason I’m in this business is so those rules are followed. If I’m in charge I can decide who can sell and how much of anything can be sold to anyone. I can make sure the prostitutes have somewhere safe to work out of, safe to stay and have what they need to survive.”
“You’re a crime lord… to control crime?”
Tim leaned forward glaring, “Since Red Hood took over ODs in anyone under eighteen is almost completely gone, and OD rates over all are down over sixty percent. Child prostitution went from a common occurrence to non-existent. Prostitutes now have panic buttons in the areas they work and the enforcement Red Hood employs quickly responds. Overall crimes in Red Hood’s territory have decreased overall, even allowing for the crime Red Hood commits. Red Hood also provides funding to local food shelves, a couple of homeless shelters, and a non-profit no questions asked medical facility.”
Several members leaned back, faces paling at Red Robin’s terse tone. As well as being surprised by the information he provided.
Jason snorted ruffling Tim’s hair, “Thanks Replacement.”
Damian came into view and scoffed, “It is merely facts Hood. Any of us could have explained that, and you forgot the no-kill animal shelter.”
Tim smiled at Damian, “Of course you would key in on the animals but do you know the types of homeless shelters he funds?”
Damian scowled at him, “Types do not matter, I know where they are located in his territory.”
“Well, the women's shelter is on the north end, the children’s is the east one, and the west one is a general shelter. Do you know how many cops he has on payroll?”
Damian glared, “That is a trick question, Hood doesn’t have any actively on his payroll.”
Jason smiled, “Wrong demon, got one active and several others know what sort of information I’ll pay for.”
Bruce rubbed his face, “Fine, it will leave you open as a future source for anyone to contact you as a contact on earth.”
Jason pumped his fist, “Yes! Intergalactic crime lord!”
Bruce sighed and went to close the window, “I’ll be back later, all of you go to bed.”
A variety of ‘Bye B’ came over the line before he closed the window and turned back to the group, “Hal how do we get Red Hood into the alien’s view as a potential contact?”
Hal blinked, “Uh, I can have a couple people talk about him where they’ll hear. The head thing will be something they can bring up; seems like something people would talk about.”
“It’s how he took over most of the drug trade in Gotham so quickly, so that will bring their attention to his drug crimes.”
Diana frowned, “You really work with a crime lord?”
“Although I do not agree with Red Hood’s methods, he has made Gotham safer. His most severe crimes are all linked to the Lazarus Pit Madness he got after being exposed to a Lazarus pit without his consent. He hasn’t killed anyone who hasn’t committed a crime against a child, or been involved in human trafficking in three years. Now what else is there to discuss?”